The Darkness Within
by SotF
Summary: Supressing ones feelings is never a good idea, and it is especially dangerous with one Naruto Uzumaki
1. Crimson Skies

Orochimaru turned away after the orange clad ninja seemed to collapse like a puppet with its strings cut after the seal was in place.

His attention returned to the one he had chosen as a vessel for himself, if only he knew that one of his fingers were slightly off by less than a fraction of an inch on the aplication of his seal or what would be released.

* * *

The dark swamp like atmosphere the blond ninja found himself in was bewildering when linked to the sewers that they seemed to be.

A crimson light caught his attention and he trudged towards it.

A caged being was sitting in the corner muttering about escaped lunatics and demented psychotics not being part of its life insurance.

Briefly a thought crossed his mind, if he was here, who was in the forest...

* * *

Orochimaru froze and turned back towards the fallen boy and his eyes widened more than they probably ought to be capable of.

Black energy poured out from the being, sending him flying to slam into a tree with a yelp of shock and pain as the two genin were tossed haphazardly out of sight.

The energy surrounded the entity changing it to what seemed to be a human made of liquid shadow save for the crimson clothes, milk white hair, and eyes that seemed to have been made of savage flame.

The thing laughed, a cruel and uncaring tone that seemed hollow as a creeping cold seemed to crawl slowly up the snake sanin's spine.

The beings theeth were pearl white and seemed razor sharp, more anamalistic than a humans should be able to and he had ninja like Kisame to compare this thing to.

It was a true monster that dwarfed even his own monsterous form, the plantlife near this damned being seemed to die as the waves of aweful killing intent and raw power was on a level that dwarfed that of even the Biju and any Jinchuri he had ever encountered.

"Death, destruction, mayhem," the being stated slowly in a tone that spoke of inner madness and destruction in and of itself as the soul burning eyes layed their devilish gaze upon his own, "I desire all of these things, but I desire but one thing far more..."

A brief pause as Orochimaru found that his body would not respond even to the desire to flee, to escape this aweful force before him as the horrible eyes bore into his very soul. For once an introspective thought made the snake summoner realize that he had done evil and almost prayed for forgiveness as warm liquid trickled down his cold legs.

"...I desire to see blood fall from the very heavens like a torrential rain," the abomination continued with a loud declaration followed by a brief moment of maniacal laughter, "It would be lovely..."

Another pause as the serpent realized that the comment was directed at him.

"...don't you think?"

The snake promised whatever diety who would listen and take pity on him that he would right any of the wrongs he had done if they would just get him away from this nightmare as the creeping wave of death that was killing the forest like hellfire reached his toes, the dead plants and insects that could not flee near the demon boy were crumling into dust even as it spoke.

His body finally responded and he started to retreat, to run, anything to escape this demented monster before him only to spin and come face to face with the same vile presence he had turned away from, save this time less than an inch before his face.

"Boo."

And then Orochimaru screamed, a long and horrified scream of the damned that was silenced a moment later...

* * *

Orochimaru hoped that he was safe, a last minute use of a longer range version of the Substitution jutsu had pulled his scales out of the mongooses jaws, but even then just barely.

The exam was in the process of being canceled after the teams were cleared out of what was left of the forest after that creature appeared. By that point the damage of the technique he had used was healed up.

The serpent believed that a Jinchuri would be enough to slow down that monster long enough for him to gain his revenge on his teacher and steal his new vessel from the Leaf.

He'd assigned Kabuto and his teammates to grab the Uchiha while he destroyed his mentor in every way. His banishment from the Leaf was one of the things that had left a seething rage within him, one that no action on anyones part could quench save through death.

The Uchiha could be quite useful in other ways and would allow him time to avoid the death he knew in his deepest recesses that he deserved.

Facing off against the ancient Hokage Orochimaru, the Old Man, and the Monkey Boss paused in midstep when the demonic chakra of Shukaku and his vessel was suddenly silenced and the slight dampening effect of that chakra vanished to reveal more of that sickening black chakra.

"My god," Sarutobi managed to state, his pipe falling with a dull thud to the tiles at their feet as the form of Shukaku came into view, the sand forming the demons body had been melted and cooled in a miniscule fraction of a second, leaving a perfect glass sculpture of the monster steaming amidst the ruined arena.

The damned chakra lashed out like knives that bit and tore through Sound and Sand ninja without thought while catching several unwary ninjas of other countries as well, including a small handfull of Leaf ones due to the indiscriminant nature of the attack.

"Not again," the snake hissed as he watched this beast eviscerate his summons one by one, not leaving them to vanish in a cloud of dust as was the normal result, but to actually shred them and leave pieces to fall like hail amidst the bloodstained sky and village, "This can't be happening."

The monster had casually brushed aside the most powerful weapon the snake summoner had ever seen, had slain one of the mighty Biju with nothing but a brief moment of contempt.

It was insane, blood was pouring from the skies like the abomination had claimed it would when he had encountered it. This foul presence was on a level no shinobi would or could ever reach as Kunai, Shuriken, Senbon, explosives, and countless other weapons and jutsus of ranged death seemed to disintigrate in mid air as the thing laughed at their futile actions.

The harsh screams of the crowds that had first gathered to watch what had been described as the last bloodsport were now drenched in that whihc they had come to see.

This was no man.

This was no beast.

This was no demon.

This was no god.

This thing that he had unleashed in his haste to harm the legacy of his one time rival for rulership of the Hidden Village of Leaf was death and destruction incarnate.

Something that once unleashed could not be easily cast aside, it was a fast burning fuze that would destroy what it came to destroy and until that happened nothing on heaven, hell, or earth could do more than slow it down.

"What sorcery is this?" Enma stammered as the energy wave smashed into the supposedly unbreakable barrier.

Sakon and Ukon died first as the barrier began to distort and rend while trying to sustain the defense against the onslaught of chakra that dwarfed that of even demons that came like a tsunami against an unprotected coast.

In the end Tayuya was the last to die of the Sound Five when the backlash tore her apart to the shock of all who had remained to see the fight.

The thick stench of blood and the acrid touch of smoke filled the sealed area as the madman walked slowly towards the two village leaders who had both gone pale and the monkey king had even taken several steps backwards.

A moments thought.

A brief moment of self inspection of his soul.

A decision made by the one in the hopes of giving his own end a meaning.

"Sarutobi," Orochimaru stated calmly, "You know the seal Arashi used on the demon?"

"Why?" came the vaguely confused response.

"Use it," he answered with an almost calm resignation, "Neither of us can hope to harm this monster, sealing it is the only option, use my soul to power it."

"What!" both the monkey and ancient man almost yelped in unison.

"Let's just say that an incident gave me a reason to have redemption at all costs," the snake summoner stated coldly as he drew Kusanagi from his stomach and gave it a brief twirl, "At least I can have a chance in the afterlife if this works."

"What about your immortality?"

"If that thing kills us both there can be no immortality," came the measured voice once more, "At least I will have a measure of it in stoping this abomination."

The pale ninja paused as used the sword to remove his arm with the snake contract.

"Give these to her," Orochimaru stated with a pause after tossing both sword and arm to his mentor, "Do it!"

Sarutobi nodded and started the seals.

"If it doesn't work, you can try again," the man whispered, the calm reservation of a death of ones own choosing.

And then the jutsu began and the spirit formed only for both summoned beings and the two ninjas to pause at the wicked laughter that seemed to freeze their flesh like the harshest winter.

The Death God began its attack and the dark Chakra began to slowly subside.

Sarutobi sighed in relief as he hoped the nightmare was over.

And then the chakra grew even more powerful as the Shinigami seemed to disintigrate before the comming doom of this abomination that had continued walking.

"You'll have to do better than that old man," the creature taunted them both as it seemingly appeared an instant later amidst them as if formed from the very shadows of death themselves, "Come on, I'll even give you a free shot!"

Orochimaru took his chance after he felt his strength return when the Deahth God died before them, snatching up the grass-cutter with his remaining hand and attempting to strike down this devil of darkness that had come to slay them all.

"Sidestep," the creature said as it seemed to blur and his blade pierce only the tiles at their feet before his wrist was grabbed by the vicelike fist of the beast, "Grab."

"Twist," came the next in an almost bored tone as even Enma and Sarutobi winced at the sound of shattering bones int he sanins remaining arm, "And strike."

The creatures elbow slamed into the base of the serpents neck with a loud crack and then a sound that was sickeningly akin to that of a shattering porcelin vase as the snakes head seemed to collapse while leaving the face perfectly intact.

The dead ninja fell to the ground in a heap as mad laughter erupted from the fanged mouth of the monster.

Sarutobi stepped backwards almost as if struck about the callous nature of this creature and bowed his head in resignation at the inevitable.

He had no time to attempt to summon another Death God, the old man knew he could not win this fight and raised his eyes to at least try to meet the fierce flames of his oppenents own.

But the place was empty, the monster was gone.

* * *

People across the entire world would speak of the day that a monster of nigh infinite power appeared during the Chunin exams. A fight that included the best of the shinobi world and over ten thousand people died in the fight that from start to finsih was barely under six minutes long. To make matters worse the creature had aparently been merely playing with them.

The biggest reminder beyond the death and the destruction of most of the arena was the impressive monument to the death of Shukaku and the tanuki's host. A statue of the dead demon was all that was left as the damned black chakra converted sand to what seemed to be glass but seemed impossible to chip off any of and many were suspecting that what had happened left something stronger than diamonds in the end.

Other deaths were recieved in different ways, Orochimaru had balanced the scales of the perceptions of the snake in Leaf. His sacrifice in the end gave him some measure of forgiveness, though while the people could forgive, they would not forget his previous actions.

Sarutobi had only been seen a few brief times since the battle, taking the time to sort his own thoughts out as to what had happened.

Kabuto had survived the fight with the monster because of his healing ability, but his mind was shattered like glass at the devistation he had seen in the deaths of his teammates. It was known that they had attempted to abduct the last loyal Uchiha and had run headlong into the abomination that had appeared, the three other spies had joined the rain of blood and gore that rained from the sky.

Sasuke was still catatonic after seeing the full force of destruction brought about right in his face.

And reports indicated that the Day of the Crimson Sky was not yet over, the inhuman juggernaut was heading on a direct course towards Sound Village. To make matters worse, the path taken towards the other village had been straight through what had been the most fertile farmlands of Fire Country and now seemed as lifeless as salted earth.

* * *

To say that Itachi was scared was an understatement, full blown terror and a nearly overwhelming desire to hide somewhere under a blanket with a plush animal was closer but still not quite what he was feeling.

From the overlook of Sound Village and one of the few escapees he had begun to get a basic idea of what the hell had happened. Some of the former leader of the villages minions had attempted to drag his idiot of a brother to Sound. Unfortunately that had just managed to piss off something that they described in a way that made him think whatever the hell had come would be able to easily take out all nine of the great demons without a real problem.

Apparently the being was also a sadistic fucker who liked to "play with its food", at least if the continuing screams for mercy and cries of pain and torment that filled the burning valley below him were any idication.

The other thing was that this creature had apparently shown up as the rest of the Akatsuki were attempting to recover Orochimaru's ring. That was discovered after they found Hidan, or at least what was left of him, crucified along the road amidst a massive bonfire.

Diedara was apparently still alive if the reoccuring explosions were any indicator, though they were slowly being reduced in intensity and number.

But even with all of that, Itachi wondered just why the hell he had to test himself in the first place. Power was something he had always dreamed of, he had joined the Akatsuki to gain it due to the plans of dividing up the power of the demons to make a group of ten immortal and all powerful ninjas who would crush the world and rule it.

But this thing he now forced himself to observe with his sharingan fully active to force this memory to remain even after Kisame had broken down and was sitting a short distance away whimpering about the evil they now saw.

He now realized that power was but a pipe dream compared to the demon, for that was all he could compare this entity to, was the proof that power was not worth the cost.

For each of the Akatsuki had a goal they desired, several had accomplished theirs in one way or another. For Diedara it was to make the art of destruction, for Kisame it was acceptance, for Hidan it was to gain answers from the face of the Dark God he worshiped. Hidan's wish had seemed to have come true but had led to complete disaster due to this monster. His own desire for power had run away with the stench of burning corpses and mangled bodies.

Even the mighty Uchiha Prodigy had lost his lunch as he was begged by several veteran shinobi to kill them just to make the horror end.

He was old enough to remember the night of the Kyuubi's attack when he was but a boy, he remembered the bloody chakra the demon made and the sheer power it had. Now that image of a nightmare was replaced by the icy black chakra that seemed to sap the life out of anything it touched that eminated in a dozen mile high pillar that marked the slaughterhouse that had been a shinobi village.

A part of Itachi wondered just why he still stood there, but a long thought dead portion of him had seemed to force him to make sure at least one being could remember this atrocity he now watched in morbid fascination.

And even then, it was rare that one could say that they witnessed the death of a Shinobi Village, even one as young as Sound.

* * *

Sarutobi relaxed slightly as he mused on the past few weeks.

They had found Naruto when scouts pacing the monster noticed the black chakra vanish. He was unconscious in the middle of the blast crater that had been Sound Village drenched in blood and gore.

There was one survivor of Sound, saved by the fact that the serpents labs were heavily fortified and the actual expirament had fortified the child after they dug her out of the ruins. They had also captured three members of the Akatsuki, technically 4 but a living head is not quite an actual capture and it was more of an unconditional surrender from the only coherent member of the group, once agin the animated head.

He had ordered a few members of the Yamanaka clan to find out some of the information and Jiriaya removing the faulty seal of his former teammate before they could really get some answers, but even then one of the Yamanaka was lost in the second was incoherent for several days after the envent and had been in intense counceling since.

The entire village was on pins and needles after Jiriaya had accidentally spilled the beans while drunk, but the rest of the comment was that even if Naruto died there was a large chance that the other being in him would get loose until its chakra ran out.

It was a nice change of pace for most of the village to decide that they would have to keep the "demon-brat" happy to some extent on the off chance that the being Kakashi had dubbed the "God-Slayer" after it destroyed the Death God in mere seconds and had taunted two of the most powerful ninja in the world about their impotence about him.

Orochimaru being killed the way he had was enough to confirm that nothing and noone could stop the thing if it got loose and was dying. One day of a true mist of blood was enough for the people, and even them memories still cause several of the more squeamish to lose their lunches.

Even Sarutobi had thought that he would prefer suicide to fighting the thing that killed half a million beings in the length of a single day, most of which were ninjas that never had a chance before being swept away in the firestorm.

It was a cold realization that his own Village combined with a small slipup of his former student had created and unleashed their own monster upon them.

A new seal was being crafted to attempt to ensure that the creature would never get loose again. They were terrified and the fact that one of the Yamanaka had commented in a drunken delirium that even the Kyuubi was scared shitless of the monster didn't help much, but had led to some of his own plans that he was preparing.

He had sent Jiriaya to find Tsunade in the hopes that she would be able to help train the kid to be strong enough to fight back faster if the damned spirit ever regained control. His other plan was to take a vacation and temporarily have his son assume administrative duties with several of the other jounin without perminant assignments while he and his two previous students would try to teach what was needed to prevent a repeat and he was feeling very old since that day. 


	2. Aftermath

**AN:** The following are technically set after the events of the main story, but are mainly about the reactions of other characters who observed the release of the "God-Slayer"

* * *

In the darkness of a cell within the place morbidly refered to on occasion as Hotel Hibiki, Temari sat and pondered her fate. 

She was the only living Sand Ninja that had been in Konoha and the last survior of her family.

Orochimaru has assassinated and impersonated her father to gain additional support for the god forsaken raid on Leaf. An act that ended up costing Sand almost as dearly as it had Sound, but had ultimately left Sand defenseless and a prime target for the vengeful villages that had lost shinobi during the attack.

Gaara had been slain by the one named God-Slayer, left entombed within a glass prison formed by the death of very demon he contained and killed him in turn.

Kankuro had, in the end, died by her own hand after she found him.

The puppet master would not have lived much longer even with the best medical attention in the world. It had looked like he'd been dipped in acid up to the ribs with the legs dissolved and most of the stomach eaten away.

He'd begged her to kill him, to end his suffering. She almost couldn't do it, but still she had, slain the last other member of her family.

The Leaf ninjas had found her staring blindly at the glass of her younger brother.

Now she sat shivering in the dark.

Before that day, she had never thought much about darkness, but that black chakra had changed that. Thick like smoke and filled with an aura of menace that made it seem evil in and of itself while the screams of the dead and dying echoed across the battlefield.

She never wanted to be alone again, and yet she was.

Temari did not truely hate the creature that had been unleashed, but she felt unceasing ager at the one who had unleashed the scourge upon the world.

* * *

Did she really have what it took to be a ninja, Sakura wondered for the nth time since the Day of the Crimson Sky. 

The death and destruction of everything had changed the face of the village in ways she could not consciously begin to comprehend or describe. Some of the more obvious ones included the near annihalation of the Hyuuga's leaving only three survivors and placing the mousey girl, Hinata, into control of the clans remnants.

The council was shattered when their private booth was consumed by the same blast that converted a demons sand to glass leaving the village entirely in the hands of the Hokage for the first time in decades.

She would have found the situation almost funny if she hadn't seen it.

The forest had been the beginning, the snake freak had been the cause for the entire mess if what she had overheard when trying to see her teammates in the containment facilities that were being used as overflow from the hospitals when the mental trauma areas were transfered to house the wounded.

Very few of the wounded were not from the attack itself as many would have thought, but they seemed to mainly be of civilians who had been trampled by those fleeing the event as well as from debris coming from the battles.

In the end the event had destroyed her team in a different way.

Kakashi had become distant, barely even leaving the monument he normally visited daily save to sleep or when dragged off to eat.

Sasuke was catatonic, seemingly from staring straight into the maelstrom of the God-Slayer when the traitor, Kabuto, had attempted to snatch him.

Naruto, well, she didn't seem to be able to get information on just what happened to him after he was found.

And to top it off, bodies were still being found and the list of the missing was still impressive in size and had been posted several places in the village.

Ino had yet to leave the hospital and was watching over a few members of her family that seemed to act as if their head was stuck in a mental blender.

Iruka had also had an everpresent position outside the door to the room Naruto was in occasionally with the Hokage's brat of a grandson as well as his cronies.

She had decided the the light of the sun was the best thing in the world as the light proved that the shadowy nightmare was over.**

* * *

Five Years Later**  
Naruto Uzumaki wondered of his fate and about the changes the past few years had made on him.

The deaths of hundreds of thousands still lay heavy on his heart, but he also realized that it had been out of his control. It was still a heavy burden as warden to not just one but two monsterous entities.

In the end the fox had given up and its existance ended in their last attempt to retake control of the body, something that made him almost miss the demon.

The last words the Kyuubi had said was that it would never alow a creature of that power to destroy any world, especially the world it was existing on. The worlds comments still had the teen confused to some extent, but he understood the sentiment and the power surge was enough when coupled by the suprise attack was enough to damage the flawed seal enough to entrap the God-Slayer within their mind as well.

With the "death" of the demon, the chakra had melded with his own through the seal and its production capability increased as the seal no longer required any chakra to function as it had done its designated job. The downside was that he had trouble sleeping and got flashes of the demons memories at times, but he gained full and seemingly free use of Kyuubi's other abilities including a true regeneration that meant from gaining it on, pretty much as long as it wasn't instantly fatal, it would heal pretty damn quick.

Naruto had also spent the last several years learning anything and everything that his teachers, well actually any teacher, could train him in doing. In the end it was for a goal that would be needed.

He would have to defeat the monster still lurking within him, he would have to fight and defeat the God-Slayer or there would always be a chance that the destroyer of nations could escape and either repeat or trump the Day of the Crimson Sky.

And that was a situation that was dire enough to convince just about anyone to aid him in preparing.

In training they had visited every single one of the Hidden Villages in the hopes of finding any jutsu they had overlooked in order to gain every advantage against a foe that did not know mercy or remorse and would not hesitate to cheat if it could.

He had grown close to his companions, the two remaining members of the legendary three and the Professor himself. But he wondered if in these preparations they had lost some part of themselves in their almost reckless gathering of advantages in the hopes of finding a way to win while growing as strong as they could in the process.

Now he was preparing himself for that final controntation, and closed his eyes while tracing a specific seal upon the dust before him.

And then the orange clad ninja faced the crimson clad and ink skinned abomination.


End file.
